Nation-driven city branding and local government autonomy

: a case study of Ningbo under the Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract

The thesis examines Ningbo city’s use of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in city branding and outward facing initiatives, exploring the intersection of city branding and local government autonomy within the BRI context. Using structural functionalism, it analyzes how local governments navigate China’s central-local governance structure through the lens of city branding, emphasizing the autonomy that local governments can carve out within national frameworks. The thesis posits that for Chinese cities the architecture of the BRI serves a dual function of advancing local aspirations internationally, as well as legitimizing local policy plans to the domestic city audiences. Carrying out a content analysis of the Ningbo newspaper and BRI-related policy documents, the research has identified Ningbo’s key activities and presents a multi-level analysis of two of the Ningbo brand cases: “China and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) hub city” and “Maritime Silk Road (MSR) port city”. Further, it examines the positioning of Ningbo within local, provincial and national level BRI policy documents. These findings concur with the literature that shows the active role of sub-national government level in driving BRI projects. This thesis raises the concept of “nation-driven city branding” to describe how Chinese local governments develop branding practices rooted in central policies. In BRI framework, nation-driven city branding become a way for local cities to proactively position themselves in the broader policy structure to gain political and economic resources and advantages. While the rhetoric around BRI itself has shifted to greater risk assessment in the context of economic downturn and concerns over lending, branding will remain a viable and cost-effective way of keeping the BRI project and the associated symbolic elements of China’s global status and connectivity prominent in domestic and international public arenas.

Date of Award	15 Nov 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Nottingham
Supervisor	Tracey Fallon (Supervisor), Xiuzhi Liu (Supervisor) & Yat Ming Loo (Supervisor)